Complete Streets in the States

Roger Millar, Smart Growth America

National Conference of State Legislatures Legislative Summit

August 7, 2012

2

Overview

• Introduction

• Complete Streets

– Policies

– Implementation

– Funding

• Other SGA state transportation initiatives

• Questions

Smart Growth

Smart growth means building urban, suburban

and rural communities with housing and

transportation choices near jobs, shops and

schools.

These strategies support thriving local

economies and protect the environment.

3

What I‟ve heard about smart growth

Wengen

4

Smart growth is ugly.

Riomaggiore, Italy

5

We have no history with it.

Boston, MA

6

Nobody would want to live there.

Aspen, CO

7

It just doesn‟t work here.

Pearl District, Portland, OR

8

Shut up and drive!

9

We know how to build right

10

We know how to build right

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Yet too many roads still turn out like this:

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or this:

13

or this:

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The Solution:

Complete Streets Policies

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Complete Streets policies

A Complete Streets policy

ensures that the entire

right of way is planned,

designed, operated and

maintained to provide

safe access for all users.

16

Many Types: Rural to Urban

17

Policy adoption accelerates

18

Policies adopted in all types of communities

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State Complete Streets policies

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www.completestreets.org/atlas

Streets Can Benefit Communities

• Improve safety

• Provide choices

• Better health

• Support economic dev.

• Reduce costs

• Manage congestion

• Smarter growth

• Conserve resources

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Complete Streets means:

• A policy approach

• A change to the

everyday decision-

making processes

and systems

• Long-term changes

to built environment

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Complete Streets doesn‟t mean:

• One „special‟ street project

• A design prescription

• A mandate for immediate retrofit

• A silver bullet; other issues must be addressed:

– Land use (proximity, mixed-use)

– Environmental concerns

– Transportation Demand Management

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From Policy to Practice

Effective implementation means:

– Organizing implementation activities

– Restructuring procedures, policies, and programs

– Rewriting or updating design guidance

– Offering training opportunities to transportation

staff, community leaders, and the general public

– Creating new performance measures

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State Implementation

• California

– www.dot.ca.gov/hq/tpp/offices/ocp/complete_stre

ets.html

• Minnesota

– www.dot.state.mn.us/planning/completestreets/

• New Jersey

– www.state.nj.us/transportation/eng/completestree

ts/

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What about funding?

• Complete streets is about using existing

resources differently:

– STP, Equity Bonus, CMAQ, TE, State, bond

measures, gas tax, sales taxes... the usual

suspects

• While retrofit funding is important, it is not

necessary to get started

• Additional funding is not needed

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Think Ahead, Think Smart

• Complete Streets can save money

• Narrower travel lanes require less land, less pavement

• Provide more options = reduce need for widening some intersections

• Do it right the first time, not when forced to later – at a higher price

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Sample Low-Cost Improvements

• Restripe for bike lanes without moving curbs/drainage

• Do not construct overly wide lanes (12‟ instead of 11‟)

• Sidewalks installed during drainage project add little cost

• Timing signals to control speeds and increase safety

• Countdown ped signals reduce crashes

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Low-cost rural application: paved shoulders

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Saving Money: Washington State

500 miles of the state

highway system are

„main streets.‟

Over ten years, 47% of

projects on these streets

had scope, schedule, or

budget changes

resulting in delay.

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Saving Money: Washington State

Pilot project consulted community ahead of time.

Complete Streets planning could have saved an average of $9 million per Main Street project – about 30% – in reduced scope, schedule, and budget changes over the last 10 years.

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/research/reports/fullreports/733.1.pdf

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Complete Streets Resources

• Fact sheets, photos, brochures

• Policy tracking & examples

• Information on technical

assistance & workshops

• Complete Streets blog and

monthly newsletter

• Links to research & publications

• Complete Streets Best Practices

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SGA’s state transportation program

WPA Mural – Wilkinsburg, PA

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Themes

• Save Money by Taking Better Care of What You Have

– Maintain and repair existing roads and bridges

• Grow the Economy by Making Your Transportation Investments More Strategic

– Fund the biggest job creator: public transportation

– Spark innovation and cost‐savings through a competitive transportation solutions program

– Revisit near‐term spending decisions and long‐term project selection process

34

35

Save money by taking better care of what

you have

• SGA and Taxpayers

for Common Sense

• National Report June

1, 2011

• 50 State profiles on

SGA website

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Repair Priorities

• 57 percent of funds

spent on just 1

percent of the nation‟s

roads

• 43 percent spent on

the 99 percent of the

system that already

existed

REPAIR PRIORITIES | PAGE 6

Introduction For decades, states have invested dispr oportionately in road expansion and left regular

repair and preservation underfunded. Between 2004 and 2008, most states spent more

systems during these years.4

miles, yet their construction accounted for a staggering 57% of combined road repair and

expansion expenditures during this period.5

As a result of these spending decisions,

road conditions in many states

are getting worse. Federal Highway

Administration (FHWA) data indicate that

6

American Society of Civil Engineers gave the

2005, and this decline in road conditions is

directly related to state spending decisions.

its highway capital budget on repair projects

on expansion. The percentage of South

largest decline of any state (see the tables 8

Neglecting repair and preservation

costs taxpayers billions of dollars in

preventable expenses. A few cracks and

potholes might not seem like the makings of

an impending budget crisis, but putting of f

repairs today means spending much more

in the future. Repair costs rise exponentially

when roads are not routinely maintained.

According to the American Association of

later to rebuild the same road once it has

Underfunding

repair and delaying these projects is

liabilities. Too much focus on expansion and

too little on repair also means that with every

dollar spent on new construction, states

add to a system they are already failing to

adequately maintain.

Expansion vs. repair:

State transportation funding priorities

billion annually on repair and expansion of roads

57% of funds went to

1.3% of roads

Total state-owned major road lane-miles as of 2008

New lane-miles added, 2004-2008

43% of funds went

98.7% of roads

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Condition of existing roads

• 52% of major roads (732,500 lane-miles) in “fair” or “poor” condition

• ASCE Report Card

– 2001: D+

– 2005: D

– 2009: D-

• $43 B/yr needed for preservation and repair

• More then we spend on all road projects today

Cost of deferred maintenance

38

Fund the biggest job creator

39

Transit investment creates more jobs

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41

Transit investment catalyzes economic

development

• Hudson-Bergen (NJ)

LRT - $5.3 billion

• Dallas, TX LRT - $4.2

billion

• Portland Streetcar -

$4 billion

Spark innovation and cost savings

42

Example – Connect Oregon

43

Revisit project selection process

44

Headline news

“Bay Area transportation projects to be

judged on benefits vs. costs” – Silicon Valley

Mercury News

45

Headline news?

“Talk to any business person about not having a

benefits-vs.-cost discussion and they'll say, 'Duh,

you mean you don't do that?' " said the

commission's executive director, Steve

Heminger. "They insist on it, but in the

transportation profession it is not all that

common. ... This levels the playing field."

46

DOT Reform Handbook

WPA Mural – Wilkinsburg, PA

47

DOT reform handbook

• Collaborative project

with SSTI

• Advisory Group of

current and former DOT

executives

• Targeted at Governors,

State Legislators, DOT

CEOs

• Report release

September 4, 2012

48

Focus areas

• Funding and financing

• Revenue allocation and project selection

• Increasing transportation system efficiency

• Pricing

• Improve options for non-automobile mobility

• Integrate transportation and land use decision-making

• Streamline internal DOT operations

• Freight‟s ever-important role in our economy

49

Demonstration Projects

WPA Mural – Wilkinsburg, PA

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Results – Oregon

• Over 60 funding

sources studied

• 12 Consensus

funding sources

• 4 consensus

financing measures

• 2013 Legislative

Session

51

Results – Tennessee

1. Develop new metrics to measure and prioritize all proposed projects against broad system goals

2. Audit the current project list for opportunities to better achieve system goals

3. Establish a system for identifying public and private transportation/land use planning partners

4. Effectively articulate a full range of benefits tied to broad system goals

5. Identify new funding partners based on benefits

6. Broadly communicate flexible design standards for context sensitive solutions

52

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We have the freedom to make informed, humane, and intelligent choices about the kind of world we want to leave for our children and grandchildren. We also have the freedom to make uninformed, selfish, and stupid choices. Which will it be?

- Greg Pahl

Thank you!

rmillar@smartgrowthamerica.org

www.smartgrowthamerica.org

www.completestreets.org

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